Page 122 - The 70s - ABC of the material
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Translations of Dutch texts
page 21 of art forms are conceivable. Therefore it is not
surprising that the art works discussed here
The Idea show between themselves little similarity.
Visual means are used to convey feelings and Maartje van Westerop, 1974
thoughts. A visual language is, perhaps more
even than a colloquial language, usable to
express subtle nuances in contemplating man
and the world. page 23
The expression of ideas demands from the artist
a great sensitivity for the media . The spectator Marginalia on time and illusion
finds his viewing enjoyment, next to pursuing the
thoughts of the artist, in the dexterity and lucidity text by Antje von Graevenitz accompanying the
with which form is given to these ideas. exhibition in Galerie Waalkens 1975
Social criticism and more philosophical ideas “Time” is one of the conditions of part of Ria van
can be understood from the work of Pieter Elk’s drawings.
Holstein. His thinking focusses alternately on Therefore, she prefers to draw in such a way that
the everyday – and spiritual world. The visual the result “shows” the reflection of this time –
language he uses is more like a literal language; thus as projected time. She does not only note
his etchings can be viewed as a comic strip. the measured time in minutes, but also fills the
span of time – the duration – little by little with
Carel Visser in his recent work uses steel in such drawn dashed units.
a way, that the viewer does not get the image Nevertheless – and there is no way around it –
of steel anymore. The immaterial aspect of his the “projected time” is not present anymore as a
ideas is expressed in his work. timespan, but as an image thereof.
The German philosopher Martin Heidegger
The thinking of Ger van Elk is strongly focussed posed that time is neither present in the
on the nature of art.Van Elk is one of the first subject nor in the object, but exists in itself
Dutch conceptual artist. With a conscious new and also the French philosopher from the
approach the tendency exists to contrast the era of existentialism, Maurice Merleau Ponty,
new and the former. Comment on artist and art concludes in his in 1945 published book
forms is a frequently used subject in the work of Phenomenologie de la Perception that “time
this artist. does not exist within things”.He mentions for
instance an old table with scratches and ink
Ria van Elk uses the properties of the material stains and concludes: “From themselves, the
used to communicate thoughts. That starting trails do not point back to the past, they are
point imparts a wide interest in all kinds of visual present now and if I can recover the “then” on
means. Notions about the nature and meaning of account of their marks from whatever event, I
human existence through material visual means can do this only because I have, by means of
together determine her work. something else, the meaning of the past, the
sense of it within me”.
The choice of the idea as the basis of art only Thus, it depends on my view of time whether
indicates an approach. From that basis all sorts I can translate the drawings of Ria van Elk in
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